The present invention relates to a prescription control system for regulating the dispensing of medications; more particularly, the present invention is directed to a prescription control system for regulating the dispensing of addictive pharmaceutical agents such as narcotics, wherein the system includes a pill dispenser with a simplified delivery device and a number of safety systems, including audio and visual recording and tamper warning capabilities.
The highly addictive properties of many medications can pose a large threat to patients prescribed these medications by medical personnel, such as doctors or nurse practitioners. While these medications are considered controlled substances, the only layer of control is between the manufacturer and the pharmacy. Control is lost once the pharmacy distributes the narcotics to the patient.
In an attempt to create additional control, prescription narcotics have warnings that doctors and pharmacists are required by law to explain to the patient. Unfortunately, there is no way to ensure that the patient will follow these warnings. This inability to regulate the patient's use of prescription narcotics makes it easy for noncomplying patients to enter a cycle of drug abuse, such as that outlined in FIG. 1.
Everyone is subject to the danger of becoming addicted. Addiction is not selective or isolated to any social or economic class and does not age discriminate. Anybody may become an addict, even if they have no initial intentions of becoming addicted. Patients from all walks of life are handed a 28 to 30 day supply of medication, given the warnings, and instructed to use the medication only as prescribed. The problem is that the addictive properties of these medications can make it difficult for the patient to heed the warnings and abide by the prescription.
If addiction takes its hold on a patient, the results can be devastating. Often, the first step is that the patient will progressively run out of their medication within shorter and shorter periods of time; a 30 day prescription may be consumed in 20 days while the next 30 day supply may be consumed in an even shorter amount of time, such as 10 to 15 days. As patients seek to replenish their supply, they may begin to “shop” for medications by making up stories about how their medication was lost, damaged, or stolen. They may ask doctors for early refills or in some cases seek to buy the drug from illegal street vendors at exorbitant prices.
Patients can become so addicted that they will beg, borrow, and steal to get more of the medication. When all else fails, they may feel forced by the nature of their addiction to turn to non-pharmaceutical drugs such as heroin or cocaine. This often leads to legal problems where the patients may end up in drug court, with the ultimate result being that the government becomes responsible for providing and paying for rehabilitation. In worst cases, a patient may die due to an overdose.
Accordingly, there exists a need for a device which dispenses controlled substances, such as narcotics, only at the rate designated by the prescribing doctor. This device should be portable so as to provide proper regulation of the patient's drug regimen without requiring the patient to be tied to a non-portable, home-based medication dispenser. The present invention fills these and other needs.